Jack was so relieved when Dot reported for work! Jack had started his small company and was head of technology and running all administration, operations, and sales. Now that sales were positive and there was cash flow, he could get some management help. He knew he was best in technology and that he was working much too hard. Jack was primed to bring someone in to take over everything else.

Like many of us, Jack had ideas in his mind about what kind of person he wanted to work with. His ideas were: (1) the person should believe in the technology, (2) that he would do better with a person who did not have a great deal of experience who he could teach good habits, (3) the person to be very bright and very well educated, with a degree from a top school, (4) the person would have a good sense of what needed to be done and be comfortable taking initiative (and therefore wouldn't need a lot of direction).

Dot was excited about the technology and had the knowledge to understand it. She hadn't worked in a start up but was very bright and well educated and wanted to learn. She liked the idea of being able to manage the office, pretty much on her own. Jack hoped he had found his "savior."

Jack called me the second week. Dot needed some time off because her mother and grandmother were coming to town. "Shouldn't she have told us before about this? Doesn't she know it's a small office and that somebody has to be there. I hired her to take care of these things. I don't have time to go to the office, I am behind on technology."

Jack called me the third week. The phones weren't being answered. "Doesn't she know that we are in a service business? Big companies use voice mail. I want the phones answered by a live person whenever somebody calls? Is Dot motivated? Does Dot understand what we are trying to do?" Jack was nervous. Because he was nervous he started looking closely at everything that Dot was doing. What else was she doing wrong? The person who he thought might be a savior might now be a problem! What should he do? What needs to be done to work through this situation?

Some of Dot's early accomplishments seemed to be discounted in these exchanges. We weren't talking about educating Dot to do the job; we were already agonizing about whether she was the right person. There are two possibilities here.

• The first is that Dot is the wrong person, either because the specification is wrong or because she isn't what Jack thought or hoped she was.

• The second is to step back and revisit the assumptions made in hiring this person.. Remember that the specification had a contradiction built in. First, it says that Jack would take a bright person and teach that person good habits. Second, it said the person would have a sense of what needed to be done and take initiative to get it done. Where does the balance lie? If management can step back and look at their organization with these fresh eyes, then they tackle the meat and potatoes issues most successfully.

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How many times have you seen the "savior or problem" scenario played out?

Here is my advice to Jack:

• No one--even someone more qualified than you in certain functions--will understand all of your goals, what you have learned from experience, and how you like things done. You are hurting yourself if you delegate everything the day the person walks in the door. Put aside the time to talk about goals, priorities, and how to get things accomplished. In the early stages, do not be afraid to give direction. You and the person you are working with will work through when to transfer responsibility for which items.

• The focus needs to be on goals, results, and how to do things. Your job as coach is to give the person the knowledge they need to succeed.

• Unless you feel in your heart that you are absolutely sure you made the wrong choice, save the mind reading about attitudes, energy, motivation, and understanding of how the company needs to operate for three months then do a performance review. If in your considered judgement the person cannot master the job, make a change, and adjust the specification based on what you learned. If on the other hand, the person is showing enough progress, focus on the next steps in your development of Dot to be the person you always hoped she would become.

• Get to know how Dot thinks and approaches problems. Learn more about her than you did when you hired her. Learn enough to be able to predict how she will react in different situations and what she can and cannot do well. Adjust your expectations (up or down) to fit her competencies and interests.

My advice to Dot is to seek all the direction you can get from Jack until you understand what Jack what he wants done, how he wants it done, and why. Once you have that map firmly in your mind, you then have a platform of understanding and for communications that will allow you to show him ways to achieve his goals more effectively.

Is Dot a savior or a problem? The answer is neither one. She is a new employee, who like all new employees needs a certain amount of training.